A Lucian's Sick Entertainment
by CrushedShattered
Summary: Set after A King's ransom. Ian Kabra begins to have feelings for Michele, a Lucian who came to help out at Attleboro. When he is captured by the Vespers the others think he's betrayed them. But Michele doesn't think so and sets out to rescue Ian. She is sure she'll be able to, but Ian doesn't know her darkest secret yet. T for torture. IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE NOW!
1. Chapter 1 Ian's birthday

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the 39 Clues. But I wish I did! Then I'd be rich… **

Chapter 1 Ian's birthday

Vesper One's message came three days ago. Amy and Dan were running across the continents. They had only 23 hours and 36 minutes to go until the deadline came.

In Attleboro Ian Kabra was alone in the comm. center. Evan was in school and Sinead had gone downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat. And Ian had locked the Egyptian Mau in Evan's room. That would keep the annoying cat out of his sight for a few hours until it found its way out. So Ian wasn't worried about anybody interrupting him at the moment, he wanted to study that scrap of paper from the DeOssie factory. For the past few days he'd been too busy to even think about it, but now he felt it was important. The Lucian crest on the paper, it looked strangely familiar.

Then he remembered that there was another person here: Michele Wang, the Chinese-American girl who had been recommended by Erasmus to help out at the comm. center.

Sinead had grilled Michele for hours before letting her into the comm. center. Even though Erasmus had assured them that he'd known Michele for five years and that she was completely trustworthy, they knew that anybody could be a Vesper in disguise.

Sinead at least approved of Michele, but Evan clearly didn't like her. Probably because of the suits she wore all the time.

Ian didn't dislike Michele, but he wasn't interested in her either. She, like him, was a Lucian, but unlike him, she was considerably rich, having earned the money herself by writing novels using a pen name. He was only slightly irritated by her fine and (as he supposed) expensive suits. He knew she didn't mean to insult him, she'd walked into the door of the mansion dressed like that. He wondered what Natalie would think of Michele's choice of wear.

The DNA tests had proven Michele as a Cahill, but Ian thought she was more of a Janus /Lucian.

When she'd first set foot in the comm. Center she had proven herself to be at least worthy as an organizer by sorting out all the paper notes they'd stuck onto the wall and strings into detailed categories. (Under the supervision of Sinead) Ian had to admit that the comm. Center had looked a lot better after Michele's arrival; the notes were being printed out and put into folders.

He had just opened the notebook to examine the scrap of paper when Sinead appeared at the door. He quickly slammed the notebook shut and crammed it pack into his pocket.

"How's it going, Ian?" Sinead asked as she opened one of the computers while still drinking a cup of juice. "Any new breakthroughs?"

"Not at the moment." Ian replied, "Where's Michele?"

Sinead opened a program on the computer, "She left me a message telling me that she was going to meet her editor to discus her next novel. I don't know if she's telling the truth."

"You should have planted a tracking device on her." Ian told her as he scrolled down the Cahill message board, nothing new.

"Already done that, I'm checking now." Sinead clicked on a page and squinted at the screen, "She's at her editor's office. I'm sure she won't notice the gadget."

She spun her chair around to face Ian, "but that's not what I wanted to tell you, do you know what's special about tomorrow?"

Ian frowned, "Vesper One's deadline?" Nothing else was on the Cahill calendar.

Sinead sighed, "That's only part of what happens tomorrow. Seriously, Ian, can't you remember why tomorrow is so special?"

Ian shook his head, "Besides that it might be the last day one of the hostages will live, there aren't any important events that I know of."

"Tomorrow's your birthday, Ian!" Sinead exclaimed exasperated, "And we're going to hold a party for you. I know it's not the time, but we do need to have some fun and relax."

"Really, Sinead, "Ian grumbled. He'd forgotten that he'd be 17 tomorrow; Isabel had always told him and Natalie that only the people who didn't have enough money to enjoy luxury everyday celebrated birthdays. "There really isn't time for one now."

"I've already got everything ready," Sinead said sternly, "Jonah and Hamilton will come, and Evan will too. I'm contacting Michele now." Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed the message. "Oh, and Erasmus might come too."

There was a long silence in which Ian just stared at Sinead's computer screen. Only Sinead would think of holding a birthday party at a time like this.

After some time Michele's message came:

Thanks, but tomorrow the novel will be published and I'll have to be there to sign the papers. I'm really sorry. I'll drop off Ian's birthday present tonight. What would he like? I'll buy the cake if it's convenient. Please tell Ian that I'll drop in later to say Happy Birthday. Michele W.

Ian chuckled quietly after he read the message. Actually, he sort of liked Michele. Her kind of thoughtfulness was so different from Evan's or Sinead's. And even more different than Amy's sometimes-thoughtfulness. He had to admit that it was some what…charming.

"So what do you want for your birthday present?" Sinead asked as she began to type back a reply, "Now you'll just have to celebrate. For the cake…chocolate, or…?"

Ian shrugged, "Just tell her to get anything."

Sinead smiled as she pressed the SEND button. "I can't wait to see what she comes up with." And she laughed.

Michele sighed as she stepped out of her editor's office after two hours. Adjusting her suit slightly she walked out of the building into the cold atmosphere outside.

She took out her smart phone and looked up the best cake stores around. Then chose the closest one and studied the address.

After five minutes she was standing before a fancy looking bakery store. Walking inside, she was greeted by the sweet aroma of freshly baked pastries. While on her way to the cake section she spotted a jar filled with almond cookies. The kind that she'd eaten before eight years ago. In China.

Instinctively she reached out to rub the jade pendant on her necklace but stopped herself as she tore her gaze away from the jar.

She marveled at the variety and, of course, the price. She'd never gotten used to the luxury stores. After all she'd only been rich for three years, before that she had only a few hundred dollars with her when she finally got a letter acknowledging the acceptance of her first novel.

The cakes were all so delicate and beautiful, so what did that boy Ian like?

"may I help you?" The voice of the saleswoman almost made her jump.

"Yes. Thank you." she said smoothly, "Tomorrow is my cousin's birthday I'd like to order a birthday cake for his birthday party." It was the truth.

If the saleswoman was curious about why a girl who was only 15 years old was wearing a finely tailored suit she didn't show it. "What kind of cake would you like?"

Michele chose not to answer her question. "He's a year older than me." She said simply, hoping that the saleswoman would pick up the hint.

Te saleswoman showed her a row of cakes farther down the shop.

Michele sighed quietly as she scanned the row, then a certain one caught her eye, it was shaped like a chessboard with all the playing pieces made out of frosting.

"That one would be fine." She said as she pointed to the cake. "Can it be sent to this address at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning?"

The saleswoman had her fill out an order and Michele prepaid the whole amount.

Two days ago when she'd gone to the comm. Center to continue with the note sorting she saw Ian playing chess on a computer. And the skill…she'd made a mental note to be careful if she ever played chess with him.

She stepped out of the store and thought about the birthday present. She spotted a fashion store and remembered the suits that Ian wore. Hoping he wouldn't take it as an insult, she hailed a taxi and told the driver the address of a certain store.


	2. Chapter 2 The birthday party

**A\N: Okay, I read the reviews.**

**I just wrote this because I hate Amy Cahill. And I've already got an Ian Kabra in my life, why would I need another? And Michele Wang is NOT going to be a Mary-Sue. I'll prove that in chapter six.**

**There's no logic in this and it's not realistic at all. Know that.**

**It's your choice whether to R&R or not.**

Chapter 2 The birthday party

Ian woke up to the beeping of his alarm clock. He rarely used it, but since today was his birthday he figured being late was not the best thing to do.

His teddy bear Mr. Buttons lay next to him staring at the ceiling. Ian propped it up by the alarm clock. Hopefully no one would see it.

He got up and quickly changed into one of his better suits. Walking downstairs to the dinning room he was surprised to find Jonah, Hamilton and Erasmus sitting at the table. Ian hadn't expected any of them to come.

"Happy birthday, Ian!" Hamilton called out grinning.

"Amy and Dan couldn't come." Jonah said, "Erasmus just came."

Erasmus smiled and handed Ian a small wrapped box. "Happy birthday, I'm sorry that I can't stay for the party, Amy and Dan might need help anytime." Then he sped off.

Sinead came in carrying a cake container. "It just arrived," she said, "I guess it's a party for four. Evan is getting grilled by his parents."

Or maybe he just doesn't want to come, Ian thought darkly.

Sinead placed the cake container on the dinning table, "I haven't opened it yet, and Michele told me she hoped that Ian wouldn't be too disappointed. I'll open it on a count of three, okay?"

Ian nodded, what king of birthday cake would Michele choose? At least it was better than letting Dan Cahill choose. Knowing that boy he'd certainly choose one having to do with cobras or something equally unpleasant.

"One…Two…Three!"

Sinead carefully opened the lid of the box and lifted out the cake.

The cake was an edible replica of a chessboard, the chess pieces were made out of icing. In the middle the words Happy Birthday were written in Lucian red icing.

Hamilton studied the cake, "at least we can play chess with it."

"What do you think, Ian?" Sinead asked.

"It's great." Ian said smiling.

"Would you like me to tell Michele what you said?" She asked half jokingly.

Ian ignored the question, "Thanks, Sinead, for planning this. I would've forgotten that it was my birthday.

Hamilton took out a pack of small candles out of the box, "Let's eat."

Sinead lit the candles and told Ian to make a wish before blowing them out. He hesitated for a moment, and just blew out the candles.

After that Sinead cut the cake and gave Ian the slice with the white king on top. After everybody had eaten their fill Jonah announced that it was time to open the presents.

Hamilton volunteered to bring the presents and when he went to get them Sinead asked Jonah how Amy and Dan were doing.

"They're finding the item." Jonah reported after checking his cell phone, "And Amy told me to say happy birthday to you."

Amy still remembered his birthday?

Hamilton came in with 5 packages and placed them on the table.

Ian hesitated, was he supposed to pick one and open it?

"Choose one!" Sinead encouraged enthusiastically.

He received a watch from Erasmus, a tie from Sinead and a stationary set from Jonah and Hamilton.

"We didn't know what you wanted." Jonah explained to him, "And by the way, we've locked the cat in the basement."

Ian thanked them (mostly for locking away the cat) and moved to the next package.

In it were a pair of jeans and a copy of the novel Kidnapped. Like he'd never read the book before. He put it quickly aside and glanced at the last package.

"It's from Michele," Sinead said. "She dropped it off last night."

Ian undid the ribbon and lifted off the lid. Inside there was a whole suit, from the shirt to the belt.

"It's Armani." Jonah marveled. "That girl does know something about you."

After half an hour Jonah and Hamilton went to the comm. Center and Sinead cleaned the table. After helping Sinead Ian took his presents to his bedroom and then went to the comm. Center. Sinead, Jonah and Hamilton were talking to Amy and Dan on the computer.

"There's only five more hours," Amy was saying, "Dan and I think we know where it is, and Jake is coming with us."

Then she noticed Ian, "Happy birthday, Ian!"

Ian nodded and forced a smile.

"Three days ago Erasmus introduced a Lucian to help us out at the comm. Center." Sinead told Amy. "Do you think that it's essential?"

"I guess so." Amy replied. "Do you think that person's okay?"

"Her name is Michele Wang." Jonah told her. "Do you know her?"

Amy shook her head. "I'll check her files later. But we're doing fine now. Dan and I are planning another heist. Vesper One seems to want us to become criminals."

"I've already checked Michele's files." Sinead informed her. "She seems okay. Remember to have a good disguise when you go to steal whatever V-1 wants. I'm making more fake passports now."

After discussing some more Amy hung up and Sinead began to work on the Cahill message board. Hamilton and Jonah went on an errand while Ian opened a computer and accessed to the files of every Lucian in history. He felt curious about Michele.

He typed her name in and her files came out. But when he clicked on her records the page read UNAVAILIABLE.

He frowned and checked a few other Lucian's files. Their records were all available.

He asked Sinead about it and she answered distractedly. "She has some…some secret records." Then she went back quickly to her work.

Ian went back to his room and sat on his bead while he checked out Michele's gift. The whole suit probably cost about a few thousand dollars. But he guessed that a few thousand dollars wouldn't mean much to Michele.

He sighed and hanged the suit out, also the tie from Sinead. The stationary box he put in the drawer along with the watch. Then tossed the jeans into the closet and gave the book to Mr. Buttons. After that she he went back to the comm. Center to help Sinead out.

After four hours of intensive research they still hadn't discovered anything. Evan was still being grilled by his parents.

After they pinned the new notes on the bulletin board for Michele to sort out Ian went back to his room to rest. When he'd just begun to close his eyes someone knocked on his door.

Ian got up and opened the door, standing outside was Michele, Her suit was just as finely pressed as ever, with her precisely cut hair a centimeter higher than her shoulders. Michele's eyes met his and she cocked her head slightly to one side.

"Hello, Ian." She said in her usual manner of careless charm. "I just came to say happy birthday. I hope you won't think of the present as an insult."

It was so straightforward.

Ian smiled. "It was great, thank you very much. And the cake was great too."

Michele returned the smile. "You're welcome. It was the least I could do. Are there new breakthroughs?"

"No, there weren't." Ian told her, and then added. "Can you play chess?"

"Yes." She said, and winked. "We could have a match some day after we get done with this." Ian knew 'this' meant the Vespers.

"Sure." He said. "So…have a good afternoon."

"You too." Then she went to her room which was two rooms away from his.

Ian grinned as he closed the door. Maybe birthday parties weren't so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3 The Lucian crest

**A\N: Amy Cahill just isn't the kind I like, for the reasons…**

**She got to doubt her parents but didn't let Dan do that. And she's a horrible leader. I liked the version of her in the first series better. She just falls for hot boys too she told Ian that she hated him. I mean, really! Anger management**

**Yes, I do have an Ian Kabra in my life right now. Thankfully this one doesn't wear suits. But he's just as great as Ian.**

**I'll just say again that there's no logic in this. **

Chapter 3 The Lucian Crest

Amy and Dan Cahill had found the item at literally the last minute. Sinead was helping Michele with the folders, which had already filled a cabinet. They'd estimated that when all the notes were printed and sorted out it would fill at least three more.

Sinead was still thinking about Michele's records and she decided to ask her. Choosing her words carefully she asked Michele about the records and why they were kept secret on the Cahill database.

Michele instantly stopped what she was doing. "Do you really want to know?" She asked, her voice unusually harsh.

Sinead did her best to keep her voice convincing. "It's just that only the most important files are kept secret, and we need to know—"

"That everybody here in Attleboro is not a Vesper." Michele finished for her. "Yes, I understand. All of you hate Lucians. Even that cat. And of course you don't trust Ian Kabra. You think that I don't know? Just because of Isabel Kabra. If you want to see the files ask Erasmus. But trust me, Sinead. you won't like what you see." She turned back and continued typing.

Sinead studied her for a moment, and thought she saw Michele's left arm twitch for just a second.

Ian's Point Of View

Ian had made sure that nobody would interrupt his study of the scrap of paper. He'd checked it in his room but he needed a test to prove his suspicions.

The crest wasn't a color-printout, it seemed like some substance was painted onto it.

After putting a sample of the red hardened substance into the machine he checked the letters on the scrap of paper: M.W.

Ian didn't like what that meant. Only two Cahills came up for the initials. Millicent Wattson and Michele Wang. Wattson was a Thomas who wasn't ever active. Unless the initials referred to a Vesper or a none-Cahill it could only mean Michele.

Ian knew that he was being too suspicious. He'd tried to convince him self that the person was only acknowledging another that Michele had come to Attleboro. But why had they used only her initials?

The test results came out and Ian studied the chart. The chemicals in the paint matched the ones in a certain kind of nail polish—his mother's Lucian red nail polish.

He knew that he should've shared t with the others, but he had a strange suspicion about the crest.

And now his suspicion had been confirmed.

He knew the others didn't trust him so much, him being the son of a murderer and all. Only Michele tried to be friendly to him. He hated to admit it, but in many ways, Michele was so much better than Amy Cahill.

He sighed and walked out of the comm. Center, He would pay his mother an unexpected visit.

He hesitated while at the door, then went back to leave a note—Gone to London.

Some things just had to be kept secret.

Sinead frowned as she studied the note. It was obviously Ian's handwriting. She wondered why Ian would be going to London, unless he wasn't telling the truth.

She tried to convince herself that there was some explanation behind this. If Ian had betrayed o them then he wouldn't have bothered to leave a note.

Michele came in. "What's wrong?" She asked when she noticed Sinead's worried expression.

Sinead handed Michele the note. "Ian has, as he says, gone London."

"He might be going to visit his mother." Michele said doubtfully.

Sinead shook her head. "Why would he visit her? Or…do you think he's betrayed us?"

"Let's hope not." Michele said. "Did you plant a tracking device on him?"

Sinead found it slightly amusing: Michele and Ian had both asked her if she'd planted a tracking device on the other person.

"No," She said. "I should have, but I wanted to at least have trust in somebody. And Ian would've found the gadget anyways."

Michele started one of the computers. "Where's Evan? I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday."

"His parents somehow found out about him coming here." Sinead told her. "And they weren't exactly happy to know that he'd lied to them."

Michele nodded. "I just hope that Ian will be safe. There might be Vespers anywhere."

Sinead studied Michele carefully. "You care a lot about him, don't you?" She asked softly.

Michele stared at her blankly. "He's also a Lucian. That's the only reason why I care."


	4. Chapter 4 Kidnapped

**A\N: Thanks for the reviews. I've proven that Michele is not a Mary-Sue…yet.**

**If Amy hurts Ian too much…then…**

Chapter 4 Kidnapped

Ian Kabra was surprised to find out how easy it was to get into the Aid Works Wonders' headquarters. Walking to the office of 'Mrs. Kabra' he met not one worker.

Without knocking he opened the door to her office, Isabel Kabra did not deserve such respect.

His mother, now the founder of A.W.W. was talking passionately to someone on the phone.

"…And yes, of course, we're going to South Africa this year. The donations will help build a shelter—"

When she noticed Ian she spoke quickly into the phone and hung up.

"So, my son." He voice was warm and gentle. "What brings you here?"

"Just one thing, mother." He said while forcing a smile. "I've come to ask about your connection to the DeOssie factory, if you'll be kind enough to tell me."

As an answer Isabel pulled out a dart gun and squeezed the trigger. "I don't think so."

Before Ian could react the dart had already pierced his shoulder and the poison spread quickly. In less then two seconds he collapsed to the ground, his body paralyzed.

His mother walked over and his phone from his pocket. Smirking, she typed something. "How about I send a message to your dear friends at Attleboro telling them that you've betrayed them? I'm sure that even Michele will get upset."

Ian glared at her. "Don't you dare—"

"I've already done it." Isabel told him. "And what can you do to me now? Nobody will come to save you. And I forgot to tell you that I've thought up a few plans for you."

She pressed a button on the wall and a few seconds later two men came into the office. She pointed t Ian and they nodded.

One covered cover his mouth and nose with a chloroform soaked cloth, the other injected him on the arm with a hypodermic needle. The last thought Ian had before being knocked out was the realization that he had been kidnapped.

By the Vespers.

Sinead stared in disbelief at the message on the screen. It had come an hour ago and she'd read the message a hundred times by now,

Greetings, Cahills. It's Ian. And I'm at the Vesper headquarter now. Never thought that I'd betray you? Well, then too bad. This is not a joke. You Cahills are pathetic. Ian Kabra

The message had come from Ian's phone and the word 'pathetic'…She remembered that Ian had used that word quite a few times.

Just then Michele came in. "Any news on Ian?" She asked.

Sinead showed her the message.

"It could be a setup by the Vespers." Michele reasoned. "Maybe one of the Vespers took his phone. Or worse, they've kidnapped him."

"How could we know?"

"Like this." Michele took the phone and typed in a message.

Greetings, Ian. It's Michele. To prove you're really Ian Kabra, tell me what your seventeenth birthday cake was like.

She pressed SEND. "We'll know now." She told Sinead.

After three minutes the reply came.

Such a question, it was a delicious chessboard.

"They could have forced the answer out of him." Michele muttered.

Sinead shook her head. "Ian would never tell anyone anything about the people he's loyal to. Face it, Michele: He's betrayed us."

Isabel Kabra smiled as she set down the phone. She was sure that the Cahills would be convinced. But the Chinese girl could need a little more convincing.

The question was so easy. They had connections everywhere, even in bakery stores.

It took only some bribery and blackmail.


	5. Chapter 5 Torture

**A \N: So here's the 5th chapter…**

**Ok, I'm in China now, but I'm an American. Just staying here for a really long visit. No Chinese middle school student could come here and write a fanfiction. They wouldn't have time to. And none of them would think of reading the 39 clues. (No offense at the series, they just don't realize how good it is) **

**About the taxi thing, I didn't say that she was going to that fashion store on the street. She wouldn't know the address of it. She was going to a different store some where else. And let's just say that it was really far away, and she didn't want to waste the whole afternoon walking there.**

**Michele's parents are dead. Later you'll know how they died.**

**Let's say that I have a strange taste for torture stuff. This chapter might be a little lame. **

Chapter 5 Torture

Ian woke up to a splitting headache. He tried to move his arms and found that they were secured to the chair he was sitting in by metal cuffs. His ankles were also secured in the same manner.

He looked down at his clothing. He was wearing a stiff short sleeved shirt and a pair of equally stiff pants. Only his shoes were the same ones he had worn earlier.

That meant that he'd been searched, but at least he wasn't wearing a jumpsuit. The short sleeved shirt was all he was wearing on his on his upper body, and the room did not have a heater. Maybe the Vespers wanted him to freeze to death.

He took in his surroundings more carefully and noticed that beside the chair there was a board with a dozen small red buttons and some wires. He shivered, not because of the cold.

It was an electrical shock chair.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Isabel Kabra came in. Ian glared at her as she crossed the distance between them. (The chair was in the center of the room)

His mother smiled. "How are you doing, Ian? Having a good time?"

"Just tell me what you want." He shot back.

Isabel examined the small bottle of liquid she was holding in her left hand, and then laughed.

"Yes, we want to know the password to your phone's Cahill database."

"Can't you decode it yourself?" he taunted, though he knew that here was no way to break into the system. That was one of Evan's most effective accomplishments.

Her face showed no emotion, "You know that it's impossible to do that. Just tell me, or would you like to try this?" She waved the bottle of green liquid.

Ian gulped. It was the same poison Dan Cahill had taken (and probably consumed) two years ago.

He forced a smile, "Dear mother, you know that if you murder me you won't get the password."

Isabel gave him a pleasant smile. "There's an antidote, of course. But we'll have to repeat the process again and again. There are a few other ways of persuasion that I'm not afraid to use."

She nodded towards the row of buttons.

"No." Ian told her, hoping his voice didn't show his fear.

Isabel walked a few steps closer to him. "Then we'll have to force it out of you."

She reached out to grab his arm but Ian leaned forward to attack her.

Isabel drew her hand away and clucked her tongue. "I'll install another band later, also an agent to do this. But for now…" She secured the wires onto two of the fingers of his left hand and pressed the button labeled n. 1.

The shock came so quickly that Ian didn't feel it until it was over. He barely managed to stop the groan.

"This will get more and more painful." She told him, "Do you still persist?"

"Yes." he hissed, "I won't tell you."

Isabel smirked and pressed the next button. "I'm sure that will change."

This time the groan escaped.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes." He snapped.

Isabel smiled and pressed the next button. Ian bit his lip to stop himself from screaming.

"Not enough?" She pressed the forth one.

This time the scream escaped.

Michele sighed as she slumped into the couch in the living room. Posture meant nothing now. Actually, it had never meant anything to her.

The expression on Amy Cahill's face when she'd heard the news was so strange. There was anger and disbelief, but also sadness.

Michele wondered if Amy Cahill had ever had a crush on Ian Kabra before. It was certainly possible. With his handsome features and silky accent all the teenage girls would faint if he smiled at them.

The only thing that could be worse was the cat. Ever since Ian's disappearance it had directed all its hatred on her. She knew how to deal with the cat, but it was still annoying when she had to kick it every few minutes. Now she'd locked it in the basement.

If Grace Cahill had really been devoted to the peace between the branches she should've at least trained her cat to be nice to Lucians. Dan Cahill could have trained it before. Or maybe the cat was merely nearsighted and couldn't tell Ian and her apart. Could cats wear contact lenses? If they could Michele would be more than happy to buy some and give them to the Mau for free.

Her left arm was beginning to itch again. The Vespers…What would they do to Ian?

She was the only person now who still persisted in that Ian was innocent. Even Erasmus was convinced, somehow, that Ian was to blame.

They were all just finding a target to take the blame.

Evan had come back and was more in charge than ever because of Ian's absence. Michele suspected that he was glad that Ian had gone.

Ian had left for 26 hours and 34 minutes. Not that she was counting.

Not exactly, she was counting.

She knew Ian, or at least she hoped she knew him. He was a Lucian. Lucians knew everything about charm, deception, double-cross and betrayal. But none would betray their own branch.

Or maybe he'd gone to the Vespers to act as a spy for the Cahills, though she doubted that.

Her left arm twitched, and she used her right hand to twist it until the pain was unbearable.

She snatched out her phone and dialed a number, then patiently waited. Some things couldn't be done alone.

Isabel Kabra pressed the eleventh button.

Ian screamed and forced himself as best he could into sitting position. His left arm had gone completely numb and his whole body was wracked with pain. His vision was blurred, with yellow and black splotches dancing around.

Isabel leaned forward and whispered softly into his ear, "I'll press the last button if you don't tell me the password."

"Won't." He gasped.

She pressed the button labeled n. 11 with one beautifully manicured finger.

Ian bit his already bloodied lip: a futile attempt to stop himself from screaming. The pain was shattering. He heard a scream that he couldn't believe was his.

Isabel Kabra scowled as she yanked the wires from her son's limp fingers. The Vespers didn't need the password. They could access the database whenever they wanted.

It was just a way for the Vespers to crack him. Vesper One knew all about how to gain information from hostages.

Later they would start with the poison. Ian would eventually break down.

They needed him for something else.

**A\N: This might not be very realistic. I'm not sure if a real person could survive so many electric shocks, but Ian's a Cahill. I'll try to post chapter 6 by September 5. Thanks for the reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6 Rescue preparations

**A\N: Finally I finished the four days of pre-middle school training! **

**If I have any grammar mistakes PLEASE TELL ME! Some of it might be typing and the others might be real. Being away from the USA for so long doesn't really help. And the English classes here!**

**I'm just reading the 39 Clues to find out about what the Vespers are up to. Writing is a form of plotting, like burglary is a form of art. About why she wears suits…it's not exactly because she likes to.**

**I'll read Shatterproof before I decided whether or not I should make Michele a Mary-Sue. Ian has a strange upbringing, people who have an uncommon childhood often have a strange taste for crushes.**

**If his name was Ian I would really freak out. He does have a strange accent, and his eyes are brown (is that the same thing as amber eyes?) And he did exactly the same thing that Ian Kabra did. He could be a Lucian, or maybe a Thomas. I'm a Lucian. (As you can see by the title of this fanfic) He is just so Ian Kabra.**

**Sinead is the Vesper mole? This unrealistic fanfic has more logic than that. I mean, in book three there was a chapter set in her POV. Page 147. The writers of this series shouldn't have written that POV. Call me paranoid.**

**I'll get to read Shatterproof when the vacation in October comes. It's just something to look forward to.**

**I made up a Lucian agent in this chapter. At first I wanted Hamilton to do it, but I couldn't work that out. Read if you feel like it.**

Chapter 6 Rescue preparations

Ian woke up again with a throbbing pain in his head. He was still sitting in the electric shock chair and now a leather band was strapped across his chest, restraining him even more.

The fingers of his left hand were still numb but his left arm was feeling better. Ian wondered how much time had passed since he'd blacked out. It couldn't have been more than ten hours.

The door opened again and his mother walked in. This time accompanied by a Vesper agent. The agent was holding the small bottle of poison.

Ian tried not to flinch. More torture.

He knew the effects of this poison well, which was probably why she'd chosen it. For a second he was more than tempted to tell her the password. The Cahills probably all thought that he was a traitor by now, so did it matter if he really was one under these circumstances? He was neither now.

But then he remembered the smile Michele had given him. He knew that Lucians (like himself) were all about charm. But he'd been around them so much that he could tell. That smile was real. He could never betray that smile.

Ian stared defiantly ahead as the two Vespers approached him.

His mother was just as well dressed as ever, and the smirk was so…

Before he could think of the right word the agent grabbed his arm and held it firmly against the chair.

Ian glared at his mother. "You try all you want, but I won't tell you."

Isabel smiled. "The others already think you're a traitor. And dear little Michele… Ah, yes. She hasn't told you about her days with the Vespers, am I correct?"

Ian ignored it. Isabel was just trying to manipulate him.

"Tell me," He said, "When did you become a Vesper?"

"Two years ago." Isabel snapped, lowering her voice to a focused whisper. "When my children left me my world ended. I was thrown into prison, no different from your sister. The Vespers offered to help me if I agreed to work as a Vesper agent under cover. It was the only kindness anybody showed me."

"Yes." Ian laughed sarcastically. "And the Vespers gave you the dirty job of working on me for information."

Isabel frowned. "I guess Michele didn't tell you about her dark little secret?"

Ian glared at her. "Why would she tell me?"

She laughed. "I'll tell you later, but now, just tell me the password or else we'll have to use that.' She indicated the bottle of poison.

Ian forced out a smile. "No."

"Very well." She nodded towards the agent.

The agent rolled up Ian's left sleeve and poured a drop of the lethal poison on his arm.

Just as he'd expected, the poison stung.

"Just tell me what the password is." Isabel said as she examined a hypodermic needle which was filled with what Ian supposed was the antidote.

The pain was spreading and Ian gritted his teeth. "No."

Isabel nodded to the agent again and he or she applied another few drops to the burn. Ian felt as if his whole body was on fire and he wanted nothing more than for the pain to end. Then the pain was changing. It shot up in waves, up his neck, down his legs. He knew he would deteriorate fast.

"No?" Isabel asked with her false caring voice.

"No." He growled. The pain was getting even worse, like some form of medieval torture. He knew that in ten minutes he would go into toxic shock.

Ten minutes later he was starting to black out completely, and then he felt the needle pierce his skin. He stiffened briefly and stifled the whimper of both relief and pain.

He felt himself go completely limp and his head lolled to one side. The wound still hurt intolerably but at least most of the pain had gone.

He felt the agent pull down his sleeve and he flinched as the rough cloth rubbed against the burned skin.

He heard the sound of the door closing and he sank into a blessed slumber. Unsure of what his mother would do next.

The routine of a common Lucian agent is always quite the same. They either do surveillance or sabotage. One of them (code name: Panther) was in his office when an unexpected call came.

"Hello, Panther." The smooth voice would always send chills down his spine. "It's Michele."

He paused. The last time the girl had called him was three years ago to inform him that she was doing well. He wasn't sure of what she had meant.

The voice was so much softer than last time, but there was still that touch of harshness in it.

"I would like you to meet me tomorrow midnight 200 meters north of Grace Cahill's mansion. If your health is excellent, that is."

He frowned. She was up to something. "What do you need me for?"

A sigh came from the other side. "I was wondering if you would enjoy the prospect of taking a tour in the Vesper headquarters. You see, Ian Kabra has been kidnapped by the Vespers."

"Won't anybody at the comm. center help?" He asked, but he knew the answer.

"You know what they think of me." Michele replied wearily. "But I will need someone to, ah, help Ian Kabra out of there."

Panther winced. He knew what that meant.

"Torture?" He asked mildly.

"It's the most possible." she answered. "And forgive me for asking again: Is your health excellent?"

He allowed himself to smile. "Yes, I believe I'm capable of carrying him out if necessary, tomorrow at midnight?"

"I'll give the exact location by e-mail." She said. "I'm doing this for the Lucians because of you-know-what. We don't need another disgrace."

"I'll come."

"Thank you."

The Lucian agent got up and went to fetch his case of agent tools. He'd better get ready.

The girl had grown so much.

Michele snapped the phone shut. Panther was a reliable agent, and he was of her branch. His real name was Jacquelyn Something. She hadn't bothered to remember his last name.

She'd said the truth about the disgrace. After Isabel Kabra less and less people trusted the Lucians. Unlike most of the peaceful Cahills these last two years she still had a strangely strong sense of Lucian-pride. Probably because she'd never participated in the clue hunt.

She still remembered that smile Ian had given her. And then it had taken all her seven years of charm practice to keep from panicking. The Lucian teenager had taken her intentions the wrong way.

Ever since she was nine she knew how to just look into one's eyes and expression and then predict almost accurately the person's thoughts and emotions. After seven years of practice Ian's thoughts were so easy to see. He liked her. She hadn't meant to use her practiced charm on him, but she'd used it so often before that it came too naturally now.  
She'd only been friendly to Ian because he was a Lucian and the only one in the comm. center who'd decided to at least partially accept her.

His eyes had also contained puzzlement, she then knew that he'd gone to check her record files, she just knew. She hoped his mother wouldn't tell him about it. But knowing Isabel Kabra she would.

Her arm twitched, something that always happened when something wasn't normal. Of course, for Cahills nothing was normal.

She'd only considered Ian as a friend, but she still didn't want him to know. If he knew that she had…

She would explain this to him later, now she would have to get ready.

To visit the people she'd been with for a little more than a month seven years ago.

Ian shivered; the place obviously didn't have a heater. Maybe his mother had installed an air conditioner.

The leather belt was even more uncomfortable, he couldn't get into a relaxing position or even slump down.

Eight security cameras were all directed at him, like he needed watching.

Ian's stomach growled as he remembered that he probably hadn't eaten for days. Maybe he hadn't drunk anything either. How long had he been here? It must have been a few days since he guessed that he was dehydrated.

The poison didn't affect brain activity, which was good. But it made him more paranoid about what they would do to him next.

The door opened again and this time his mother came in alone.

"I just won't do it." He snapped at her. "What's the use of the database?"

Isabel didn't seem to care. "You don't know about Michele's past, don't you?"

Ian glared at her. "I repeat: why would she tell me?"

She laughed. "She murdered her own parents, why would she tell you?"

Even though Ian knew his mother wasn't telling the truth it shocked him so much. Michele just couldn't…Isabel was just playing with his emotions.

Isabel pressed the first button. "Believe it or not, but she murdered them, then another twenty or so people. Not one Cahill's trustworthy, you should know that."

"Just like you." He shot back.

She frowned as she pressed the second button. Ian didn't bother to stifle the groan.

"No?"

"No."

She smiled and pressed the next one.

Ian just screamed as the buttons were pressed one by one.

Michele finished paying for a two-room suite on her computer. She chose this particular one for two reasons: It was an inn and she doubted that she would be able to come directly back to the comm. center. The other reason was that this inn was Lucian run. Its name was the Tide Hou Inn. A pathetic name, but it was the anagram for the word 'hideout'. She liked the name, it felt so fitting. The meeting place was at the airport, she'd already booked the tickets.

To Texas, where the Vespers headquarters now were.


	7. Chapter 7 A tour after midnight

**A\N: Finally I finished the first 3 days of real middle school. And on Mondays we have to wear the school uniform's dresses. Ah…I wish I were a boy. They'll get to wear ties every Monday next year.**

**Thanks for all the reviews. Isabel Kabra…Well, poor Ian.**

**I'll try my best to post the next chapter by next Sunday; Michele will not be a Mary-Sue no matter what happens in Shatterproof. (Unless I do it by mistake)**

**R' n' R if you really feel like it.**

Chapter 7 A tour after midnight

Ian winced as he shifted after waking up. A few hours ago he'd just had his third electric shock torture. Isabel Kabra was doing it more frequently now.

The door opened again and the two Vespers entered, they were adding the dose each time.

Isabel Kabra nodded to the agent and showed Ian a hypodermic needle of the antidote.

"Just tell me." She said. "Next time we will move to more…extreme means."

Ian laughed. "After I tell you…what will happen then?"

Isabel nodded towards the agent again who dripped a few drops of the slow acting poison onto the already burned skin.

He flinched as the acid-like poison burned into his body and the agent tightened the grip on his arm, making his arm hurt even more.

"Why do you still insist on resisting?" Isabel asked in a smooth and soft voice. "There's no use in it now, they won't come to rescue you or even attempt to help you. Michele might think of coming here. Maybe I should make some plans ready for her? You don't know why she decided to help out at Amy Cahill's pathetic little center, do you?"

"Why would she tell me?"

"Why would a person who murdered her own parents tell a handsome Lucian teenager her secrets?"

Ian ignored it as always. He could sense the poison spreading, but was Michele really coming? He had hoped that would happen but if she was also caught…would she be able to stand it?

"How's Natalie?"

"Her health is excellent. One more chance before next time I come, yes or no?"

"No."

Another few drops were added.

After ten minutes of toxic shock he felt the needle go in.

The two Vespers left leaving Ian gasping, the sleeve had been pulled back down and this time he spotted a few blood stains.

Next time they would do something different. Sighing, he got himself as comfortable as possible on the stainless steel chair. If anything happed later he'd better get a good nap.

\

Jacquelyn (codename: Panther) scanned the airport, he spotted a suspicious person and quickly ducked into a noisy gift shop. After ten minutes the person had disappeared.

Walking quickly to a certain café he headed straight to a table at a corner.

Michele Wang was sitting at one side of the table with two cups of coffee in front of her. At first he couldn't believe that the teenager was Michele, she had a baseball cap which covered part of her face and a gray jacket. She had a backpack slung on one shoulder, just like any normal teenager, but he guessed that it was a disguise, unless she had really changed so much.

He sat himself down at the other side of the table while nodding to her. She nodded back.

"Hello, Panther. We'll be going to Texas." She handed him a plane ticket.

He nodded back. This was serious. "And the passports?"

She gave him a sly smile while pulling out two passports, then handed him one. "You know what to say."

He chuckled as he studied the passport. "You're a real trained Lucian."

"Not exactly." She told him. "You know that before I was a…V"

He sighed. Nobody had forgotten that.

\

Sinead tried not to scream as she watched the monitor stop dead. The screen read GADGET DESTROYED OR OUT OF POWER.

There was no way that it could run out of electricity.

They had lost another Lucian.

She'd sent a quick message to Michele, but her phone was out of network.

It was the wrong time for crisis.

And she should've expected this.

She hadn't actually liked Michele. But she'd helped so much at the comm. center; the notes were all sorted out now. It would be so much easier to find facts if needed.

She tried to convince herself that Michele had just gone off to a book meeting or something and then found the tracking device. Anybody would've destroyed it.

Maybe Michele had known about it all along. And now she'd taken care of it.

The history records.

Sinead quickly snatched up the phone, then dialed Erasmus' phone number.

After five minutes he finally answered and didn't seem surprised when Sinead told him the bad news.

"Michele went off for her own reasons." Erasmus assured her. "She would never work for the Vespers."

Sinead wanted to believe that so she laid the matter to rest for the moment. She needed to know about Michele's records.

She asked about then and Erasmus stayed silent for quite a long time.

"What kinds of Cahill database records are kept secret?" He asked finally.

"Usually past destructive top-secret crimes, shameful relationships, and underground movements are." Sinead answered after consulting a computer. "So you mean…?"

"This line might not be secure," Erasmus told her. "I'll come over as soon as I can to tell you, but you need to know that Michele has never done anything exactly wrong." With that he hung up.

Sinead slammed the phone down in frustration. The two Lucians whom she'd worked with: Both had too many dark secrets and had supposedly betrayed them.

\

Michele carefully shifted a dart gun in her coat pocket. She and Panther were hidden in the woods that surrounded the Vesper headquarters.

She nodded to him and they walked in to the building. The door opened easily. No guards.

The stronghold looked exactly like before. (Before the explosion, of course) The way the offices were arranged was just like before.

She led him expertly through the maze of passages, to the torture rooms. She knew the Vespers already knew that she was here; they were just watching them do this for their entertainment.

Seven years, and she still remembered.

The hostages weren't kept here. That was the way. They had their own places to do such things.

They didn't know which room Ian was in so they started from the first. Picking the lock with the skill of top Lucian agent skills they looked into the first room.

Empty.

"Michele." The smooth female voice came from behind her.

Calmly she turned around.

It was Ian's mother, Isabel Kabra.

"I told Ian about what you were before." She said to Michele. "He was so hurt."

Michele took a deep breath. Isabel was lying.

Then she sprang forward and kicked Isabel's right hand which held a dart gun. Then shot her in the shoulder with poison number 29, a ten-hour sleep. There was no need to kill.

Five Vesper agents then surrounded them. Michele calmly pointed her dart gun at Isabel Kabra's limp body. "One move and she'll get it. Please tell Vesper One that Michele Wang enjoyed the visit."

Moving in perfect unison she and Panther shot all five of them down at once, a five-hour sleep.

They found Ian in the sixth room. Michele knew that the Vespers were still watching her every move, but she didn't care at all.

Ian was in a bad shape, but better than she'd hoped. After cutting away the restraints she injected him with a pain-number that would also ensure a ten-hour sleep.

After nodding to Panther, who was taking care of Ian she went to open the other doors. Nothing.

The Lucian agent came out of the room carrying Ian. Michele tried not to wince.

His face was quite pale and there was blood on the left sleeve of his shirt. Her arm twitched again.

Quickly they made their way out of the place; no one came to stop them.

This was the organization that had changed Michele's life, and it was going to change her even more.

**A\N: Okay, really lame. The Vespers would've stopped Michele, but let's say that they're too arrogant.**


	8. Chapter 8 Michele's records

**A\N: Sorry about the girl's name thing, I had always thought that Jacquelyn was the name of a boy. Please don't get me started on international, I always consider myself at least as half-American. Thanks for the reviews!**

**Michele will not end up with Ian, though I hope he won't end up with Amy in the end, they just aren't my idea of an awesome pairing. **

**By "Michele has not done anything exactly wrong" I mean that she is not evil.**

**And from now on Michele Wang does not represent me in any way besides nationality, branch and appearance. (From this chapter on Michele had nothing to do with my personal experience, and 'Michele' has nothing to do with my first name.)**

**After I finished this I'll think of writing something else. If anybody has any suggestions about what I should write next please tell me! :) (Not Amian)**

**The next chapter will be mainly about Michele's four years of living by herself, so skip that if you hate her.**

**Enjoy! :) **

Chapter 8 Michele's records

After Michele and Panther were sure they'd ditched all possible surveillance they found a park and settled Ian down on a park bench.

Panther did most of it, being the more experienced one, but Michele helped out just to get her mind off the Vespers.

She wasn't bothered about the wound inflicted by the poison. It would leave a faint scar if it was really worse, but that was nothing compared to what she had.

Unexpectedly her left arm twitched and she dropped the bottle containing the aloe concentrate.

She quickly picked it up; it was a good thing that the bottle was plastic and had its lid on. Panther was done sterilizing the burn and she handed him the bottle.

Michele studied Ian left hand. "Electric shocks," She told Panther, "how's the injury?"

He finished securing the bandage and placed his hand on Ian's forehead.

"The wound's fine, but he may have a fever later on. Do you have an extra coat?"

As an answer Michele took out a coat out of her backpack, she was always prepared.

"Is there any other poison?" She asked, "Dehydration?"

"The first, no, the second, yes."

She nodded, that would be easy.

Panther gently lifted Ian up as Michele led the way through the town. She chose the places that didn't have street lights or open stores.

After an hour of maneuvering through the maze of houses, shops, and other buildings they arrived at an inn. A small sigh read _Welcome to the Tide H_ou _inn._

Motioning for Panther to follow her she walked to the back door and knocked six times.

A few minutes later the door opened and a Lucian agent beckoned for them to come in. After having them each do screens scan to prove their Lucian status he nodded and led them up a narrow stairway. He showed no curiosity at Ian, his job was to provide all Lucians with the secret service.

They came to secret floor of small suites. Then he handed Michele a key and pointed to a door on the right side of the hall, then left.

After they'd locked the door after entering Panther went to one of the rooms and settled Ian on the bed.

Michel scanned the room. The curtains were all drawn and she lifted one to look out the window. The small town was almost completely dark with only a few street lights here and there and an occasional light from a window.

She walked to the room where Panther and Ian were.

When he saw her he came over.

"He has a low fever." He told her, "Do you need me to stay?"

She shook her head. "I can handle this, will he be alright? Don't tell anybody about this yet."

In the dim light of the room she thought she saw the Lucian agent smile. "Yes, take care of yourself. Don't be too harsh on him, therapy might be needed. If you need anything just call."  
After nodding to her he went out the room and out the door.

Michele rang a finger along her left sleeve and looked closely at Ian for the first time. Panther had put the quilt over him and used wet towel to clean his face.

She took out a hypodermic needle loaded with a life-sustainer; it would keep him alive until he woke up.

In one swift motion she swabbed a spot on his left arm with disinfectant and used a second and a half to inject.

Quickly she drew the needle away; she didn't want her arm to twitch when doing such tasks.

It hadn't twitched as often as this in the past few years, only once a month at most. After getting involved with the Cahills the twitch came more and more often. Like the place triggered memories. Memories that she'd made herself forget.

After one more look at Ian she went to her room.

\

Sinead waited for Erasmus to speak. He had been silent for the past five minutes since she'd asked to see Michele's records.

They were sitting at the dinning table of Graces' mansion. Michele had been gone for almost a day and Sinead was starting to really doubt that everything was alright.

Finally Erasmus spoke, his voice low and steady he told Sinead, "Michele is actually the real reason why we know this much about the Vespers. Amy and Dan's father only knew a little, but Michele was the main source."

Sinead gasped, Michele—?

Erasmus seemed to read her thought perfectly, "She became a Vesper for a little more than a month. The year she was eight years old she and her parents were kidnapped by the Vespers. Possibly because her parents were the leaders of one of the best Lucian agent groups ever. Michele couldn't provide anything at the time and torturing her to force information out of her parents didn't work either. So they decided to recruit her as a Vesper in training. The entering test, which was quite cruel, was to have her kill her own parents personally."

Sinead winced, "Did she do it?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Erasmus nodded, "Being a Lucian she seems to have quickly figured out the situation she was in. With her trained cold expression she did it."

This couldn't be true.

"After staying in the Vesper headquarters for forty days or so she sneaked into the room which controlled and monitored all the electricity and explosion systems and set off the left wing of the building in which she was confined in. But not being an Ekat she must have set the timer off incorrectly or done something else wrong with the system and she barely escaped with her life."

He paused for a few seconds, as if deciding whether to tell her something, then continued. "The explosion killed 24 people, all of them Vespers. There might have been more or less but that was the number the news reported."

For the next four years she lived alone in the USA until she somehow managed to publish her first novel. At first she didn't want to come to Attleboro, it took five days of persuasion for me to convince her that it was worth the effort. I hope you can understand this; Michele has probably gone to the Vesper headquarters to rescue Ian if she knows where they are. She did what she could have done under those circumstances."

"Even killing her parents?" Michele just couldn't do that.

"I'm sure she'll call today." Erasmus said as he opened his phone, "Try not to get angry with her, she knows what she's doing."

Sinead nodded numbly. All this time she'd been working with a former Vesper who had also been a murderer. At least Michele hadn't lied to her on one thing: She wouldn't like what she would know.


	9. Chapter 9 Four years

**A\N: Today's the first day of the Chinese National Holiday; I might be able to post a few chapters this week, though now I'm only writing this to finish it. It'll be 12 chapters long and (as all of you hoped) Michele will not end up with Ian.**

**This chapter is just a flashback kind of thing. So skip it if you want to save some time.**

**Anyways, I'll finally get to read Shatterproof this week, though I already know what will happen in the book. And The Mark of Athena will come out soon, but I guess that I'll be able to read that book at the end of December. **

**:) **

The fever, thankfully, had gone down. Michele didn't think she could risk giving anther injection. Her arm was twitching from every few seconds to every few hours. She could never predict when the next one would come.

Something had gone wrong, she just knew it.

After a minute's concentration she opened her phone to call Sinead. After two minutes Sinead finally answered.

"Michele?" It was surprising how so much coldness could be put into one word.

So Erasmus had told Sinead. Wonderful, this would be fun.  
"Hello, Sinead." She replied back simply. There was no need for long talk at the beginning.

Just as she'd expected, Sinead exploded.

"How could you just run off somewhere with out telling me!? Do you know how hard it is to run the comm. center with only Evan!? Can't you just spare enough time to write a note―?"

Michele quickly turned down the volume.

"―Tell me where in the world you are!"

"I'm in the USA." Michele told her. "And Ian Kabra is also here."

"WHAT!?" Sinead screeched. "YOU'RE BACK TO BECOMING A VESPER AND KILLING MORE PEOPLE? AFTER YOU KILLED ABOUT TWENTY PEOPLE AND YOUR OWN PARENTS!? AND NOW YOU'RE HERE TO TELL ME THAT YOU'VE BETRAYED ME, TOO!?"

"I HATE YOU MICHELE WANG! YOU SCHEMING, HORRIBLE, DOUBLE-CROSSING, LYING, TREACHEROUS VESPER!"

With that the line went dead.

Sinead was usually calm and reasonable, but in times like this people changed. Their way of looking at life, their personality, and even their future.

And it had changed Michele too.

\

Sinead slammed the phone down, Michele was with Ian?

Then she realized that she'd been too rash. Michele had only told her that she was with Ian, and she hadn't even tried to cut in when Sinead had shouted at her. Either because she hadn't bothered to or because she wasn't able to.

A call came from the phone connected to Jonah's. The Janus' face appeared on the screen, it was strangely grim.

"Yo, Sinead." Jonah said. Sinead immediately knew that something was wrong.

"Erasmus is dead. He was killed while throwing himself and Vesper five off a cliff."

It couldn't be.

Sinead decided now to tell Jonah yet about Michele, the last thing they needed was more suspicion between them.

"Just please tell Amy and Dan about Erasmus," She told Jonah, "They should know."

"Sure."

\

The line went dead.

It was few minutes before Michele closed the phone. Sinead had at least the sense not to tell any one else about her…yet.

Erasmus couldn't be…

She had just hacked onto Sinead's phone system, just for fun, mostly.

Erasmus had convinced her to help out at that awful Cahill center and had promised that he would take care of all trust issues. Now who would do that? Even if some Lucian took care of this the trust between her and the other Cahills would lessen dramatically, even if she brought Ian back safely.

Walking to Ian's room she opened the door and slipped inside. He was still asleep, though not as deeply as before.

Nothing could be done at the moment, but when he woke up… then she'd have to explain the whole mess to him.

She shouldn't have agreed to assist the others at that center. She'd only decided to do it because she felt she owed the Cahills. Or was it really the other way around?

And what would Ian think of her?

The four years of wandering orphaned childhood had made her too hard on the inside, too hard even for a Lucian.

Four years.

After checking out of the hospital the Lucians offered her the choice of being in one of the Lucian training courses at one of the strongholds or helping her find an adoption or foster home. They were more into the first than the second, and they were willing to do so.

But she'd chosen the ultimate path. After signing a file that ensured that she would receive help from Lucians anywhere if needed, and would also enable her to take short agent training courses whenever she entered a Lucian stronghold she set out.

Going slowly towards the east side of the USA.

She did it mostly because of fear. Most of the Vespers would certainly know about the eight-year-old Lucian who destroyed two-thirds of the Vesper headquarters using their own electricity and bomb system after a month since pledging her loyalty to them.

A Lucian stronghold would have surely been a safe place, but Michele had the feeling that she didn't belong there. And she had murdered two Lucians.

After setting out she planned the main route, following the Lucian strongholds.

At first it was quite hard. She had to find a way to live financially, but with her young age it wasn't that easy. She never went to school and learned what she could when flipping through the textbooks in a library. In a year she had covered what would usually take a person three or four years to learn. After a month she was beginning to run out of money since most of the amount the Lucians gave her as a fund.

After taking on a few odd jobs pretending to be on vacation and without anything to do (though that was actually half the truth) she tried for a paper route. She knew most of the newspaper boys were boys, as suggested by the name of one who would do the job, but it felt better to have a somewhat more stable income.

After flipping through numerous newspaper adds she finally found a route which met her needs. To just be safe she but on make up to make herself appear as a boy. That was one of the lessons she decided to take before leaving that Lucian stronghold.

She successfully got the twilight route, an essential time because not many people were out at that time and even if they were they wouldn't be suspicious if they saw her.

For those four years she usually took four or five routes at the same time, the most of them being eight different routes in a month. Slowly she made her way east in a sort of zigzag pattern. She took her time knowing that after she reached that east border she would have to turn back the way she came.

So for the next two years she went to the different Lucian strongholds, studied and avoided any authority figure's attention, whether it be the Social Services or a teacher.

A year and a half later she decided to try what she'd wanted to do since three years ago.

A daring gamble, but she started writing.

When between paper routes she would stop to write a few sentences or edit a previously written page. The novel started from a small idea and quickly expanded, making the first draft 450 pages.

She had obtained a laptop from one of the Lucian strongholds and used it to type her final draft. Then she made a list of publishers and mailed it to the first one on the list.

Days, weeks, and months passed by as she made her way down the list of publisher's names. And on her ninth try, just after her twelfth she finally received a letter on her e-mail account which accepted her novel.

**A\N: This is just really unrealistic, so flame me. I'm thinking about what I should write next, maybe my version of how the Cahills vs Vespers series ends. I can't wait to read Shatterproof. XD**


	10. Chapter 10 I hate you Ian Kabra!

**A\N: Here's the next chapter. There's some Amy-bashing in it so don't read if you're a fan of her. The title of this chapter is the sentence that Amy yelled at Ian in Shatterproof. Only here she doesn't ruin a laptop. Michele threatens to do so, though…XD **

Chapter 10 "I hate you Ian Kabra!"

Ian opened his eyes expecting another kind of torture to come. Strangely, after about ten minutes the door still didn't open. It wasn't like he wanted them to come. It was just that something didn't feel right.

It took him a few minutes to realize that he wasn't sitting in the electric shock chair anymore. Instead he was lying on some soft surface. He was still wearing the same set of clothes of clothes but the metal cuffs and leather band were gone. His left arm didn't hurt so much and it felt like the wound was bandaged. Blinking to clear the sleepiness out of his eyes he looked around the small room he was now in.

It was clearly a hotel room, the kind at a regular three-star hotel. The curtains of the only window in the room were drawn and now it seemed to be in the morning or early afternoon.

He managed to sit up and found a set of new clothes on the nightstand beside his bed. After changing he stood up, wincing as he used muscles he hadn't accessed to in days, or even a week.

He pulled back the curtains and glanced out the window, the room was on the third or forth floor. He couldn't make out where he was, and what had happened.

Limping slightly he went to the door and opened it. Walking into the living room he saw someone sitting at the table.

"Michele?"

Michele didn't seem a bit startled, looking up from her phone slowly she said, "Yes. Hello, Ian."

Her voice somehow seemed much colder, like his mother's voice when she wasn't using her charming form of threats, and he actually shuddered.

Even her gaze was harder. What had happened?

"Hello." He said casually. "What day is it?"

"Monday. You took a three-day tour of the Vesper headquarters." The sentence had a hint if her usual charm at first, but then hardened back.

"…Oh."

"Lunch is ready." With that she got up from the couch and went to another sleeping room opposite his and closed the door.

Ian frowned as he went to the dinning table. He'd always seen Michele as nice for a Lucian, but something had clearly happened when he'd been held by the Vespers.

\

Michele had never thought that she'd use that tone on Ian.

Before it was only used occasionally to stand up against bullies at the same paper route station or to deal with gangs. Never to use for fairly nice Lucians who'd never done anything wrong to her

It was simply an instinct. One that was maybe ridiculous.

It was just the feeling that she just had to put some distance between Ian and her. She knew that she could never explain it to him, he saw her only as a murderer.

Like he hadn't murdered anybody before, but this was different.

She'd made her choice now: Give Ian two days at the most to recover, and then send him back to that slackly-run Cahill center.

Then she would go back to her house in an all-Lucian residence.

It was the only way for her now.

\

Ian had never thought that being in the same suite with Michele would be so awkward.

Of course it was strange to be here in the same suite with some female Lucian who was only very distantly related to him, but this was a different kind of awkwardness.

Michele barely spoke to him, even seeing her was hard. She was in her room most of the time and listening from the door he often heard the furious clatter of typing.

The meals appeared exactly on time if he stayed in his room, and everything was always tidy.

On the second day at the place he found a paper note by his breakfast plate. It was scribbles out in Michele's curved and slanted handwriting:

Ian，

This afternoon we'll start our way back to Attleboro. Please meet me at 12 o'clock today. Michele

They were leaving today?

Ian had recovered quickly enough, his left arm still hurt slightly when used but everything else was fine. It was rational for Michele to want to set out.

Michele wanted to meet him, possibly to inform him of the travel plans. But he saw the pen stop abruptly after she wrote the capital M, leaving a dot after the letter. It could be a writing habit, but the pen had stopped there for so long that the ink had soaked through the paper to the other side.

At 11:55 am he went out to the living room. He thought that he must be in some place in the south bet he didn't think of trying to ask Michele about their location. It didn't seem to be the wisest thing to do.

At 11:59:58 Michele opened her door carrying her laptop computer. After placing it on the low table between the three chairs with a little too much force she sat down on the chair opposite him.

"Amy Cahill has requested to speak to you." She said as she flipped the laptop open and turned it to face Ian. She seemed to be stressing Amy's surname like he knew quite a few people called Amy.

After about a second the face of an angry Amy Cahill appeared on the screen. The background was a hotel room and Ian could see Dan Cahill rummaging through a backpack.

"Hello, Amy." Ian managed in a cheery tone. He hadn't expected Michele to do this, but people changed.

"How could you do this to your own sister?" Amy yelled at him. "How could you!"

Ian frowned, puzzled. "I'm trying to help her as much as the rest of you."

"Erasmus is dead!" Amy screeched at him. "How could you!"

"What?"

"I hate you Ian Kabra!" She screamed. But before Ian could react Michele grabbed the laptop and sprung the screen to face her.

Her face was so stone cold felt himself recoil slightly. It did really look like the face of a mass murderer.

Immediately he chided himself for thinking that. He should never believe what Isabel Kabra said.

"If you close this now I'll activate your computer to explode in ten seconds." Michele told Amy coldly, and Ian saw her fingers poised over the keyboard. She seemed to really mean it. He hoped Amy wouldn't be rash on deciding.

"Listen, Natalie got hurt because of Ian? Erasmus is dead because of Ian, too?" She paused for a moment. "Your parents didn't die just because of the Kabras. Ian Kabra is going back to Attleboro."

Amy's expression turned from shock to anger. "That's not for you to decide, Lucian." She snapped.

"Just because you're that leader of the Madrigal branch doesn't mean you can control me." Michele smirked. "You haven't really done a good job, no?"

"I-I…" Amy was stammering, her face becoming red. "I ―"

Michele cut her off with a manner that was not quite like her. "We'll be coming back to Grace Cahill's mansion tomorrow at twilight. Remember to open the door. And don't forget that I'm a Lucian."

She closed the laptop and turned to face Ian. "Get ready. We'll be leaving after an hour."

She started to get up, but then sat back down.

"Your mother told you about that, didn't she?" She sighed. "Listen, I was a Vesper and I did murder quite a few people. Sinead can tell you the whole story tomorrow."

Not waiting for Ian to reply she stood up stiffly and went to her room.

\

"What?" Sinead asked.

Amy nodded on the computer screen. "They're coming, really. Ian and Michele are coming soon. What are you going to do?"

Sinead hesitated. What could she do? Refuse to let them in?

"I don't know. She said carefully. "You're the leader of the branch, Amy. You should decide."

Amy winced. "Michele meant business. Let them in, but prepare defense forces."

"Sure. I'll have Saladin ready to attack Ian."

**A\N: Two more chapters to go…XD I was planning to post 3 chapters this National Holiday but I only had the time to finish two. Flame me for the Amy and Michele thing.**


	11. Chapter 11 Departure

**A\N: The second to last chapter… One more to go. OK, I admit that I did indeed want Michele "to steal Amy's boyfriend" when I first began writing this. But I didn't mostly because I don't know how it feels like to get kissed because I've never done that before, nor has anyone done it to me. Haha…**

**Volcanic Lily: Glad you didn't hate it. **

**. : **

**A slightly sad chapter that all the anti-Mary-Sue people will probably love:**

Chapter 11 Departure

Ian watched the clock as an hour passed by and pondered about what he was to do when he arrived at Attleboro.

It was obvious that Sinead and Amy were really angry at him. Evan would try to convince all the Cahills that he was a traitor.

And the cat.

There wasn't anything to take and Ian wondered how they would be traveling. Michele came out of her room approximately at 2 o'clock. She wasn't wearing her usual suit, but a set of clothes which seemed thrown together. Not attracting but normal enough. He wondered if he should've changed into something else but there wasn't really a way to do that.

Without saying anything she handed him a forged passport and motioned for him to follow her out the door.

They walked through the narrow dimly lit hallway and down the steep stairs. Ian assumed it was an inn and that was confirmed when Michele went to the front desk after turning right and ducking under the staircase into the main room of the inn. It was a small inn with only one or two visitors.

The desk clerk seemed to be a Lucian though Ian didn't recognize the man. Then they went through the back door and Ian glimpsed the sign on the door.

"Tide Hou?" He asked, hoping to bring up a conversation.

"Hideout."

He shrugged as he followed Michele into an alley. No need to bother finding out what that meant.

\

Michele tightened her grip on one of the backpack straps, not that the pack was heavy. When she'd returned the keys to the Lucian agent he'd looked at her for a strangely long amount of time and then murmured her full name, then added. "Who's the other one?"

"Another Lucian." She muttered quickly. Ian had stayed a respectful distance away from them.

"Good luck."

"Good afternoon to you."

Almost every Lucian knew about her.

\

After walking for half an hour they got a taxi to the airport. Security was no problem with their forged passports and Ian watched as Michele used a form of charm that only Isabel Kabra could manage.

He hadn't tried to remember those three days with his mother. They seemed like a dream when he thought about them but the sharpest memory was of his mother's cold voice, and the pain.

As they waited for the plane to arrive Michele kept her eyes staring at the screen of her phone. She seemed to be sending messages but Ian couldn't tell because of the distance Michele had put between them, both physically and mentally.

They boarded the plane and found their seats. Economy.

Their seats were the two by the window, and Ian offered Michele the window seat, he wanted to ask her about something but he didn't know if he would have the courage to do it once the plane had taken off.

He opened his mouth after the plane had taken flight for about fifteen minutes but his nerve failed him at the last moment, instead he closed his mouth and settled to reading a magazine.

When the plane was going to land Michele finally spoke up.

"Ian, I just want to tell you that I'm not going back to the comm. center."

Ian didn't know how to respond to that. "You could stay." He offered mildly.

"You think they would let me do that? It took enough to secure your place there."

"I don't really want to go back there either." He muttered.

"You have to, for your sister. And remember to play nice with the other Cahills."

\

Sinead waited for Ian and Michele to arrive. She'd set up quite a few defensive forces if things got bad, but she hoped that they wouldn't be needed.

After she's gotten access to Michele's files (Erasmus had e-mailed them to her the night before his death) she'd found a great deal of information that Michele had never mentioned before. One of them was her record of all the agent training courses she'd taken before.

Things would get more complicated in the comm. center from now on. Michele's threat about making computers explode would not help matters. Trust would not be as it had used to be.

The Ian-Michele story had somehow leaked out; Cahills were starting to suspect the command center's control and ability to run things properly. Many were even starting to doubt Amy's leadership.

How Michele would love to hear that. Sinead thought sourly.

She saw a taxi approaching the mansion through one of the cameras. She'd better get ready.

\

After the plane landed they got a taxi and Michele gave the driver the address of the mansion next to the one across from Grace Cahill's. It was just twilight.

\

Michele nodded towards the mansion.

"Good luck."

Her face looked so cold in the darkness.

Not knowing what to say Ian turned to go, but then he found the right words to say

"Thank you, for everything."

"It was the least I could do."

He nodded once and walked unsteadily to the mansion's front door.

Before he knocked Sinead opened the door for him. She didn't seem a bit surprised that Michele hadn't come.

"Hi, Ian." She said coldly. "You've got some explaining to do, and I'll have to explain something to you."

Before he entered the mansion Ian turned his head to see Michele for one last time.

But she was already gone.

**A\N: In this story Sinead is not the Mole so… Hope you don't hate it; the last chapter will be posted next Sunday. Then I'll start another 39 Clues fanfiction. **


	12. Chapter 12 Truths

**A\N: Sorry for not posting last week. I know that before I said that I would post the final chapter of this fic the week after the one in which I posted the 11th chapter, but I just couldn't seem to get the feeling and inspiration.**

**This chapter is the longest one in this fic, so read if you really want to. And feel free to flame this. XD There might be some logic and other problems with this whole story since it's my first completed story. Might be a little dramatic and this is my idea of what the Guardians do.**

**So please R and R! **

Chapter 12 Truths

Sinead listened as Ian told her about the past few days. The story was told too quickly, and now it was her turn to answer some questions.

Reluctantly she produced Michele's records and watched Ian's expression as he began to read them.

First there was shock and surprise, then confusion, and finally something between understanding and sourness.

"So this is what happened." He stated after he finished reading the 12 pages of computer printouts. "The truth."

Sinead nodded almost imperceptibly as she took the papers back. Now she knew the true reason why Michele Wang had done those things.

\

Ian couldn't believe it when he read the records, but when he had finished reading them he felt that he could believe it.

Michele had experienced so much at the age even impossible for a Lucian. Her cold reaction to him after at the inn almost made sense, now looking at it, he didn't know whether to like her or not.

All Cahills were strange and had their own problems, but Ian had never met one like Michele. Such a strange person, and yet…

He wanted to talk to her one last time, at least say something to her. A friendly call.

He checked Michele's basic information file page and found her mobile phone number. He pressed the numbers onto his phone.

He waited as the phone rang for minutes, but no one answered.

\

Michele had already arrived at her apartment in the Lucian residence she lived in when the phone in her bedroom rang.

The caller's number was one she knew well. Ian Kabra's cell phone number.

Why was he calling now? She knew that Ian must have kept his questions to himself but it had been made clear that Sinead Starling would take care of all misunderstandings. Or…

It was better to leave it ring.

Each ring sounded impossibly metallic and sharp, and Michele reminded herself to change the music later.

Finally the sound stopped.

Michele let out a sigh as she went to her bedroom. From now on her routine would be the same as it had been before this. Write the rough draft, edit, second draft, edit, third draft, edit, forth draft, edit, fifth draft, edit, sixth draft, edit… Then the final draft would be written, and then meetings and all the other work. Then write the rough draft of the next book, edit, second draft, edit…

It seemed now that the past few weeks were the most exciting and interesting days since she published her first novel. Now everything would be as it had been before, but she would always feel that a part of her was missing.

The Cahill part.

She had a long list of reasons to hate the Cahills, even though she was one. But after getting evolved now into the Vesper business she'd realized how Cahill she still was.

What if she hadn't come to help out at Attleboro? If Erasmus hadn't asked her or if she'd refused a lot of things could be different now.

She winced as she remembered Erasmus. She still felt as if he were still alive.

If she hadn't been there then Ian would probably be dead or in a terrible condition, but things might have been easier for Amy Cahill.

The Vespers.

Instinctively again she reached for the jade pendant hanging from a red string on her neck. It was the only thing she had that had once been her parents'. Their will had been discovered when she'd turned thirteen and the only thing that was still there was the pendant.

The jade pendant was as big as a quarter and the Chinese characters for "safety and peace" were engraved on one side. On the other side of the pendant there was something carved into the ornamental stone.

It was strangely much more worn out than the other side's carving, as if someone had intentionally rubbed the side against sandpaper and something sharp to make the design carved on it greatly unclear and unrecognizable. It struck Michele as no commonly used Chinese character, and she'd spent quite a long time flipping through both the traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese dictionaries to see if she could find a character that could match the carving. Since the pendant had been passed down to her from her parents and had been written into their will she suspected that there must be something important about it.

She never discovered anything about the strange carving. She assumed it was Chinese, unless…

Something had always been nagging at the back of her mind about the marred carving. The lines for it didn't seem right. The lines at the bottom were curved strangely upward. No Chinese character she knew was written like that.

Then something came to her. She turned the jade pendant upside-down and took a closer look at it.

Just as she'd suspected, the carving wasn't of a Chinese character, now it was a cursive upper-case G.

Her parents had insisted on having her learn cursive at almost the same time as when she'd started to learn English. They made a fuss about the capital letters and Michele thought that it was unnecessary and ridiculous. But now she knew.

It was so clear now. Two years of studying it and she had kept thinking that it was a Chinese character, but turning her way of looking at it around…

A capital G.

It had to mean something.

Her parents didn't have a G in their names and she knew it couldn't be that simple. It was obvious that the G stood for something very important and special.

Graduation? Grandparents? Greece? Green? …Grace Cahill?

Cahills. Of course it had to do with Cahills.

She began to think of all the Cahill words that started with G.

Suddenly she remembered a file she'd sorted out back in the Cahill comm. center.

Dan Cahill's friend, the genius chess boy.

A Guardian.

She looked carefully at the pendant again.

Guardians.

Sinead had never let her access any of the files to do with the Vespers, so she didn't know anything. But she knew something now.

Her parents weren't captured by the Vespers because they were powerful Lucians.

The group that her parents were leaders of wasn't just a top-secret Lucian group.

Her parents were Guardians.

The pendant had been passed on to her. And so had the Guardianship.

\

Vesper two entered Vesper One's office. It was a large room, slightly dark.

She waited for Vesper One to speak. He wouldn't be happy.

She knew that they hadn't tortured Ian for the database password, but for something else. Only she didn't know what the "something else" was.

"So the girl shot you and rescued your son while accompanied by another person, supposedly another Cahill." Vesper one stated as he lifted his gaze to look her directly in her eyes. His voice didn't seem angry, but she couldn't really tell.

"Yes." She answered back. The punishment would come soon.

Vesper turned his computer screen to face her. Nothing was on it at the moment, but Vesper Two knew that something would appear soon.

"The girl's skills were much better than they were seven years ago." Vesper One continued calmly. "Though I was surprised that she didn't choose to kill you."

Vesper Two winced at those words. She hadn't really expected the girl to be able to do it.

Vesper One continued. "Everything has gone as planned. It wasn't part of the plan for her to shoot you, of course."

She felt even more confused, and slightly irritated, though she didn't dare show it.

"Your son was just the bait." Vesper One explained calmly. "Just to make the girl come here, it was quite apparent that she would. Even if she hadn't your son would still be of use when the time came. If you had decided earlier he would've become an acceptable Vesper."

Vesper Two suppressed the urge to frown. Even though Ian wasn't really her son anymore she still found the way Vesper One spoke of him distasteful.

Vesper One was clearly enjoying this.

"I wanted confirmation to something." Vesper one directed a picture onto the computer screen.

"Michele Wang's parents, or to be precise, her father, was the leader of the Guardians. Her mother must've also had a certain amount of knowledge, too. And it is most likely that they've passed the "item" to their daughter."

He motioned for her to look at the screen. On it there was a half x-rayed picture of Michele Wang from the front.

Vesper One indicated the oval shaped pendant hanging from a red string on Michele's neck.

"Even if it's a replica it's proof that she knows." He paused slightly.

"She has the Guardians' secret ingredient."

Vesper Two smirked. Michele Wang was definitely going to suffer much more than her son.

\

Ian felt that his experience in the comm. center could now really compare with his time in the Vesper headquarters.

Amy had shouted at him again on the computer, and the other Cahills at the center (Sinead, Jonah, Hamilton and Evan) glared at him accusingly every time he met one of them.

The cat didn't help matters, and Ian had received ten scratches on the first day of his return. And now Sinead didn't help him administer the ointment anymore.

They were all acting as if everything was his fault. They made him the one to blame for everything that went wrong.

He did admit that some things were caused by him, such as the chaos and questions aroused by the other Cahills because of his "visit to the enemy's headquarters".

But he didn't cause Evan to choke on his cup of hot chocolate and then slip on the carpet, did he?

And he certainly wasn't the one responsible for causing the tsunami that destroyed a major Lucian stronghold.

Playing nice was easy enough, but it wasn't as easy to get the other to be nice to him.

There hadn't been anything about Michele and Ian wondered where she was right now.

Everything seemed so unclear.

Every Cahill's fate was not yet determined.

THE END

**A\N: Finished! If I have the time there'll be a sequel. But now I have a few new ideas. All flames are accepted. I do wonder what'll really happen…**

**So R & R! :)**


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